A Family of Tributes
by peetafansforever
Summary: The rebellion was lost. The Capitol won. They still have the Hunger Games. Katniss and Peeta's daughter is old enough to go to the reaping. This is the story of Arianna Primrose Mellark and the 87th annual Hunger Games.
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER 1**

I run out into the meadow. It's the place where I go to escape from reality. Tears stream down my face. I can't believe it's happening to me. My twelfth birthday. No. Now I will be able to go into that dreaded bloodbath they call the Hunger Games.

"Arianna, wait!" My nine-year-old brother, Grayson, calls to me.

I turn around.

"Don't run off like that. It's going to be okay. They're not –" I stop Grayson before he can tell me those words. _They're not going to pick you. _Mom told us to never speak those words. Not after what happened to her sister.

_ They're not going to pick you._

The words keep swirling around in my head. _They're not going to pick you. _It taunts me no matter how hard I try to get those thoughts out of my head. "Grayson, please leave me alone. You don't understand."

He looks back at me with those stone-cold eyes. Great. I hurt his feelings. Wait till Mom comes out and lectures me about how not to treat my brother. Sometimes, it is just too hard to think with him around 24/7.

Grayson walks back into the house with his head down. I hurt his feelings for sure.

I look back, only to find Mom walking over to me with that I-can't-believe-what-you-just-did look on her face. I run over to her and fall into her arms.

"Arianna, it will be okay. Don't worry about that. It won't happen for another two months, okay?"

"You know those nightmares still haunt my slumber."

It's the dream of Mom's experience, except with me.

_Effie's hand reaches into the glass bowl._

_ "Arianna Primrose Mellark."_

_ Everybody's heads turn, looking for me. But it's kind of obvious, my head is in my hands. I wait for someone to volunteer, but nothing happens._

_ "Well, don't just stand there, come on up!" Effie's voice rings out._

_ I slowly walk up. 'This can't be happening' I thought. _

"Arianna Primrose Mellark, listen to me!" Mom blurts out.

"Mom, what is it?" I ask her.

"Don't worry about it! If you get picked, you will have a large chance of surviving."

"But…but…I'm not a career," I tell her.

"Listen, we are a family of survivors. Your father and I lived to see another day out of the arena."

"But that was because you two fell in love."

"I know, but –"

"So you're saying I'm supposed to fall in love with someone? Is that how it is?"

"No," Mom says. "Just don't worry about it for now, okay? You still have two months before the reaping."


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

**_Two months later_**

"And don't forget to tuck your tail in, little duck!" Mom says as she finishes braiding my hair, and we both laugh. That's what she used to say to her sister on reaping day.

"Wow, _look _at _you_!" Dad says. "Katniss, how did you get her to look so much like you?"

"You know, Peeta, it was just a simple braid of the hair!" Mom says. "Well, it's time we better get going."

"No! No…." I say in a little voice.

"What's that, sweetie?" Dad asks.

"Noooo!" I yell.

"Arianna! It will be okay!" Mom calls to me.

"Come on, face your fears and let's go," Grayson says.

The town square is packed with thousands of people – the townies and the people from the Seam. There is a row of peacekeepers at a table with some device that pricks people's fingers. It's supposed to be a blood reader so that they know who you are.

I go up to the peacekeepers, holding my finger out. They prick it with the blood reader and a little burst of pain shoots through my hand.

"Bye, Mom," I say under my breath.

I am corralled into a roped-off section of the town square where other girls my age are also anxiously waiting. They probably all have the same thoughts: _What if I get picked?_

A tall woman with big, poofy blonde hair and hideous makeup and clothing walks up onto the stage. I literally gag at the sight of her. How can the people from the capitol live looking like that?

"Welcome, welcome," the woman says (I think her name is Shimmer) "to the 87th annual Hunger Games, and may the odds be _ever _in your favor! Now, before we begin, I really must show you a quick video about the history of the Hunger Games!"

The video is the same as every year. It drones on and on about the rebellion and how the Hunger Games came to be. I swear I've seen it about a million times, literally.

"Okay, ladies and gentlemen! It is now time to pick the tributes! Ladies first!"

It's time for the moment of truth. It is only five seconds, but it feels like the longest moment of my life.

Shimmer's hand dunks into a glass bowl filled with hundreds of little paper slips. Only one has my name on it. Only one. I just hope that that one slip is not mine.

She starts unfolding the paper. The nation holds its breath.

"Arianna Primrose Mellark."


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

Only one hour. Only one hour to say good-bye to everyone that I care about in this world. I swear, that's not enough time! It should be more like three hours.

A peacekeeper barges in, escorting Mom, Dad, and Grayson into the room. "Five minutes." The Peacekeeper says. My family's faces are red from crying. I would cry in their arms, but every tribute knows it's not safe. It'll make them think that you are a wimp and you'll have a big target on your back.

"Oh, Arianna," Mom says, "I'm so sorry."

"Mom, don't worry. I'll do my best." I assure her.

"You have to get a bow and arrow. Or something you can use the best."

"Arianna! You can't leave me! You have to survive! You have to win! Promise me you'll win." Grayson says as he falls into my arms.

"I promise, Grayson."

"Arianna, I love you, sweetie." Dad hugs me.

"I love you too, Dad."

"It isn't that hard. You have an advantage, anyways, coming from a family of tributes. And if I could bet, I'd bet on you," he says.

I hug everyone, because our time is almost up. But I'll see Mom on the train. She's the District Twelve mentor this year.

The Peacekeepers come back in and take them away.

Then I realize that I might never see them again.

The next person to come and visit me is my best friend, Lana Hawthorne. I've known her all my life, because she's Gale's daughter.

"Oh, Arianna, why did it have to be you?" she asks.

"Lana, I don't know. But that's just the way fate wanted it to be," I say.

"Yeah, I guess so." She sighs. "I really hope you win! I know you have an advantage, being from a family of tributes and such."

"I know," I say. "I'll win for you and Grayson."

"Arianna, I should have volunteered for you! I'm sorry I didn't."

"No, Lana, you really didn't have to. I have a better chance of winning, anyways."

We hug each other for the longest moment it seemed like, until a Peacekeeper pries us apart.

"Good luck, Arianna! You can – "

Then the door slams on my face. And she never got to finish her sentence. I'll never know what she was going to say.

The next person to come in was an utter surprise. It's the male tribute's mother. I think the male tribute's name is Damian Delerau, and I think he's fourteen.

She comes in carrying a plate of cookies. _How did she get those? _I wonder. Cookies are a delicacy in District 12. You'd be lucky if you get bread.

"Damian wishes you good luck," she says.

"Tell him I thank him, and I wish him the same thing," I say with a mouthful of those delicious cookies. "How did you get these?"

"I'm friends with the baker," Mrs. Delerau says.

"That explains it," I say.

Our time is up once more. After Mrs. Delerau, I have no one else visit me.

A Peacekeeper leads me outside to the train, where I see Damian and Mom waiting for me.


End file.
